ALIO Solutions for the Biomedical Industry

ALIO Industries designs, engineers and manufactures cost effective micron and nano precision robotics and motion products that meet the needs of the biomedical industry including medical devices, biotechnology, diagnostics and pharmaceuticals. ALIO’s standard product lines are ideally suited for biomedical applications where precision automation is required. In addition to its standard products, ALIO has built custom solutions for a wide range of applications.

ALIO product and solution examples include:  

• Microscopy and Spectrometry for Cell and DNA Imaging and Analysis and Drug Discovery
• Robotics for Surgery and Surgical Assistance, Manufacturing and Device Assembly
• Lab Automation

Microscopy and Spectrometry

ALIO has a proven track record of building stages that enable extremely precise positioning for microscopes and spectrometers. These include drug discovery applications in synchrotrons and precision motion systems for soft x-ray microscopes.

ALIO Open Center XY and Rotary stages are engineered to provide high precision automated motion around an open center.  The open center enables the user to illuminate and view samples from either the top or bottom while controlling motion with nanometer precision.  The XY and Rotary stages are engineered for standard atmosphere, vacuum and ultra high vacuum (UHV) environments.  The vacuum and UHV stages shown are made from stainless steel.  These stages have been engineered to operate in both high vacuum and ultra high vacuum environments.

Glass Dovetail Air Bearing
Like the ALIO standard dovetail air bearing, the glass dovetail air bearing is engineered to provide extremely precise automated motion with long travel capability.  The added advantage for biomedical applications is the ability to illuminate samples from below while viewing from above through optical glass using microscopes, cameras and vision systems.  The motion provided by the glass dovetail air bearing gives the user incredible repeatability and accuracy as well as the ability to control speed from 1 um/s up to 250 mm/sec across its operable range of 159.5 mm.  The glass dovetail air bearing can be configured to meet different travel requirements and lighting requirements as well as use of different grades of optical glass.

Goniometers and Smaller Stages
ALIO has also developed a line of smaller stages and goniometers that are ideal for extremely precise positioning of samples relative to a microscope, mass spectrometer or other device.  Like nearly all ALIO products these stages can be configured for a variety of environments including standard atmosphere, vacuum and ultrahigh vacuum.

Robotics for Surgery, Surgical Assistance, Manufacturing and Device Assembly

The ALIO line of patented hexapods represents the leading edge of robotics for biomedical applications including surgery and surgery assistance, high precision manufacturing and assembly.  These six axis parallel kinematic robots are very rigid yet provide smooth motion around a single point in space.  They provide increased repeatability over stacked stages by reducing the introduction of sine and cosine errors.  They are available for standard atmosphere, vacuum and UHV environments and come in a variety of sizes and force capabilities.

ALIO was asked to produce a custom stage for brain tumor seeding in laboratory animals.  The device shown allows researchers to precisely control needle insertion and injection of material to seed brain tumors.  When the device retracts, the needle is rotated 90 degrees and reinserted to complete the seeding process.

Lab Automation

ALIO XY Gantry provides extremely fast, precise and scalable motion for lab automation applications.  For example, the ALIO XY is well suited for High Throughput Screening (HTS) processes used to evaluate medicines during the development process. This application involves the dispensing of nanoliter and picoliter droplets at a very high rate. Microarrays or well plates range from 96 wells to larger plates that may hold over 1000 wells. In addition to the XY motion to locate a well plate, there is a vertical or Z motion used above the well plate. The basic motion requires high speed move-and-settle. While high speed may only reach 150mm to 200mm per second, in these applications, the motion is closely coordinated with the dispensing or retraction process (Z axis motion).

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